Almost everything about the Gaza operation has caused controversy: how many Palestinians were killed and what percentage were civilians, whether the rise in the number of religious Israeli soldiers has led to zealotry, and whether the use of enormous military force was a legitimate response to years of Hamas rocket fire on Israeli civilians.

The dispute is a proxy for a debate — both here and abroad — over whether Israel should shift its policy toward the Palestinians and whether Hamas should be seen more as a resistance movement or as a tool of Iranian ambition and terror.

“long term concurrent” sexual relationships in which one individual might have more than one long-term partner at one time, with those partners overlapping for months or years. Concurrency links people together in a giant web of ongoing sexual relationships that creates ideal conditions for the spread of HIV; if one person in the network contracts HIV, everyone else is put at risk.

In The Invisible Cure, I try to show that it is possible to do this in ways that are morally neutral and respectful of people’s cultures. I advocate using the language of science to show how networks of concurrent sexual partnerships promote the spread of HIV, and why serial monogamy is safer, even if the serial monogamists are having more partners. Then it becomes obvious that condoms alone won’t stop the virus, because so much transmission is taking place in longer term relationships in which condoms are seldom used. Therefore, a collective shift in sexual norms, especially partner reduction, is crucial. This information is coming far too late for a lot of people though.

Most people working on AIDS were concentrating on promoting condoms and improving treatment services for other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea that were once thought to increase the likelihood of HIV transmission. We now know those interventions have very little, if any, effect on the epidemic in Africa, so the big agencies are getting pretty worried now and they’re paying more attention to people like me.

LEHRER: Do you think the current economic downturn is attributable, in some way, to our failure to cultivate the right kind of minds?

GARDNER: Without question, the answer is yes. What came to govern decisions everywhere, including my own university was a reckless disregard for experience, due diligence, caution and contemplating the down side of decisions. If anything, “deciders” were selected and rewarded on the basis of whether they could cut corners and whether they could make it appear as if they were gaining ever greater profits.

I don’t want to claim that we were seers. But my colleagues and I began our GoodWork Project in 1994-’95, when we were skeptical of the claim that 'markets are self-adjusting and always lead to the best outcomes." In order for markets to work, one needs wise policies, wise policymakers, tough regulation and, above all, individuals who behave in an ethical way and demand ethical behavior from others.

Now 15 years later, people are approaching us from many sectors saying, "How do we secure good work? How can the young people, the future leaders of America, become good workers and citizens?" We certainly don’t have all the answers, but I'd like to think that we can prevent more damage and help orient individuals toward responsible behaviors—actions that in the long run serve the general welfare, and not primarily the pockets of the so-called “masters of the universe.”

To be sure, science is a social enterprise, conducted in the service of the metaorganism—We the People—that is funding the work, and it bears a profound responsibility to respect its roots. But to distort the process of inquiry through the imposition of political or religious filters amounts to a narrowing of vision, a corruption of imagination, and a threat to our freedom as beings endowed with intellect.

only free and rigorous inquiry, and not authoritarian dicta, can provide the reliable information required for our physical survival. Open inquiry is also the best ticket to developing the tools that will allow us to fulfill our moral obligations to others in need, and to the planet itself. Perhaps most important, progress in science is essential for a continued sense of our national purpose as participants in a historic experiment in freedom and self-governance, as one people joined by a common future rather than a common past, a future we cherish not only for ourselves but for the sake of the generations ofAmericans to come.

Prosperity and the country's almost unlimited abundance were dominating forces in the growth of America. Niebuhr foresees the danger of an excessive national pursuit of gratification. In 1952, a powerful agent of mass gratification, television, was rapidly invading American homes. "Television," he writes, "may represent a threat to our culture analogous to the threat of atomic weapons to our civilization."

“This is a significant contribution,” says Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state’s stem cell funding body. “It’s a very innovative way of delivering the gene products that are needed for reprogramming adult cells into embryonic stem cell-like cells. Well done to the Nagy group.”

Scientists are keen to use induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, in their research because the re-programming method does not use human embryos or controversial cloning techniques — the two biggest ethical concerns dogging the field. The advent of the re-programming method also means that, for the first time, scientists have a near endless supply of embryonic-like stem cells for their research. And, perhaps most importantly, iPS cells will allow scientists to generate embryonic-like stem cells from individual patients, a key component in personalized medicine.

This double sequence of non-virus delivery and complete removal of growth factors is what makes the finding so important for future research on patients. Nagy likens the process to a space shuttle ditching its rocket once the fuel has burned up and the shuttle has reached space.

NEW YORK In yet another sad sign of the times, The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) today announced it has canceled its 2009 convention. The last time it called off its popular annual assembly was during World War II.

These are dark days for the struggling news business. Hearst threatened this week to close the San Francisco Chronicle unless major budget cuts are imposed or a buyer is found, and is also prepared to close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer if it cannot be sold. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection this week, joining Chicago's Tribune Co. and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in Chapter 11 status.